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The high school basketball teams at TCS, decided to stop participating in the year long league “Torneo del Dorado” for logistical reasons.

The “Torneo del Dorado” is a national tournament that works as a league and lasts all year long. Many teams from all over the country participate, but the school will not be competing anymore due to scheduling conflicts and long distance travel.

“It became very monotonous and people started missing practices and games, just because it was too far. And because the games were at certain times that were impossible to agree with,” Isabela Murillo, Captain of the TCS girls high school basketball team.

The boys high school basketball team was actually disqualified from the tournament which lead to the decision to not participate in this year’s league.

“One of the rules and expectations that the tournament has, is that if a team forfeits 2 times, they must be eliminated from the league and lose the privilege to participate in any more games that year,” Freddie Badillo, TCS Athletic Director, said.

The tournament and the people hosting the league have never been very accessible and helpful with the school and its schedule. The school has tried to work out better schedules for the games but the league has not been able to cooperate. This greatly influenced the school’s decision, since it only created more logistical complications.

“The times that the games were being scheduled did not go with our plans. For example they were scheduling girls playing at Friday night, and that’s a very complicated time, especially with transportation issues,” Badillo said.

Lack of participation also made an impact as coaches became frustrated with the lack of commitment from the players. Many times, less than half the team showed up to games.

“I think there was a lack of participation and commitment from the players as well, where there were maybe 6,7 or 8 players going to the games and we have a team of 17,” Badillo said.

Another motivational issue is that the tournament has become very repetitive for some of the veteran players who have been playing many of the same teams over and over again for several years.

“The games are friendly and we keep being matched against the same teams over and over again, so the coach decided it wasn’t worth it to play against the same girls every time, and it was time for us to move on,” Murillo said.